Officials did not elaborate on the circumstances of the investigation into the shocking street killings that police described as a “deliberate” attack.

The violence erupted just before 9 p.m. on the 1000 block of Center Street, three blocks from the West Oakland BART Station. Police rushed to the scene on the report of a shooting and found the three victims suffering gunshot wounds.

Investigators have not released a motive or identified any suspects in the slayings.

Friday’s bloodshed was followed by another homicide on Saturday in East Oakland marking a violent start to 2019 that comes after a pronounced drop in violent crime in 2018.

Evan Sernoffsky is a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle specializing in criminal justice, crime and breaking news. He’s covered some of the biggest Bay Area news stories in recent memory, including wildfires, mass shootings and criminal justice reform efforts in San Francisco. He has given a voice to victims in some of the region’s biggest tragedies, carefully putting himself in challenging situations to make sure their stories are told. He works out of San Francisco’s Hall of Justice where he keeps watch on the city’s courts and hits the streets to expose the darker side of a city undergoing rapid change. He moved to the Bay Area from Oregon where he grew up and worked as a journalist for several years.